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This volume chronicles RAND's involvement in researching insurgency and counterinsurgency in Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand during the Vietnam War era, from the period preceding the dispatch of U.S. troops, to the most intensive combat years, to the Tet Offensive of 1968, to the end of the war in 1975. The author draws on interviews with RAND staff who were involved in research in the region, the hundreds of studies that RAND produced on these topics, and documentary sources outside RAND to provide a narrative that captures the tenor of the times, conveys the attitudes and thinking of those involved, and recounts their personal stories and experiences. Elliott assesses both the extent to which RAND's research influenced U.S. policies and decisionmakers during the war and the effect that the war had on RAND — culminating with the release of the Pentagon Papers, which became a national controversy in 1971.

Table of Contents

Chapter One

A Remote Corner of the World: The Beginning in Vietnam

Chapter Two

“What Makes the Viet Cong Tick?”

Chapter Three

Escalation and Airpower

Chapter Four

Controversy

Chapter Five

The Many Aspects of the War

Chapter Six

The Mekong Delta and the Central Highlands

Chapter Seven

The Tet Offensive

Chapter Eight

Pacification and Vietnamization

Chapter Nine

The Pentagon Papers

Chapter Ten

The End of the War

Chapter Eleven

Laos and Thailand: Sideshows

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